Harris hopes to turn Ukraine war into winning issue in battle with Trump for Polish American votes
HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania — Democrats are intensifying their outreach to Polish Americans in this year’s presidential election, as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump vie for support from a community that could play a decisive role in the tense battle for the most votes in several states.
Harris hopes to capitalize on Polish Americans’ historic hostility toward Russia and Trump’s hesitation to support Ukraine during last week’s debate. The Democratic vice president’s team on Wednesday organized a national call with Polish American supporters to encourage local networks to hold their own events and spread the campaign message.
While Polish Americans are not a particularly large demographic, many of them live in the so-called “blue wall” states that are crucial to either candidate’s victory. There are an estimated 784,000 in Michigan, 758,000 in Pennsylvania and 481,000 in Wisconsin, three places Harris is visiting this week.
“We’re talking about an election where a change of a few thousand voters in one of those states could make all the difference,” said Tom Malinowski, a Polish-born former Democratic congressman from New Jersey.
Filip Jotevski, the newly appointed liaison for diaspora and ethnic community networking, said on Wednesday’s Harris Organization call that if Trump were to return to power, he would “betray Ukraine” after years of “coziness with Vladimir Putin.” Trump, for his part, will visit a Polish-American shrine in Pennsylvania on Sunday for the unveiling of a monument to the anti-communist Solidarity movement. The Republican nominee will be present at the same time such as Polish President Andrzej Duda.
The Polish-American community was put in the spotlight during the September 10 debate in Philadelphia, when Trump has twice refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war against Russia.
“Negotiate a deal,” Trump said. “Because we have to stop all of these lives from being destroyed.”
Harris responded that if Trump had been president at the time of the invasion, “Putin would have been sitting in Kiev with his eyes on the rest of Europe.”
“Why don’t you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up,” she said.
Some were surprised, but also pleased, to hear their community mentioned on the debate stage.
“She knew what she was talking about,” said Tony Pol, a 67-year-old retired fire chief in Erie, Pennsylvania, who helped run a Polish-American fraternal organization for a quarter century. “I think that’s everybody’s concern — if Ukraine goes down, Poland is next, and that’s very concerning.”
Gosia Dodi, originally from Poland and now a U.S. citizen living in western Michigan, said she “absolutely agrees” with Harris that Russia could target Poland if Ukraine loses. The 61-year-old described Trump’s affection for Putin as “dangerous for Poland.”
“I want the war to be over, but not in the way he says it,” she said. “He thinks he can solve everything in one day or something, which is ridiculous.”
After Poland was devastated in World War II, the country was a satellite state of the Soviet Union for decades. A revolution in 1989 overthrew communist rule and paved the way for the country’s modern multiparty democracy.
Poland joined NATO in 1999. Timothy L. Kuzma, a Pittsburgh resident who leads the Polish Falcons of America, a fraternity with roots in the 19th century in Chicago’s large Polish immigrant community, said voters in his community want to see a candidate who is committed to strong transatlantic ties.
“If either candidate does not give such guarantees, that is problematic,” he said. “The candidates, both parties, must show their support for Poland, for Ukraine, for NATO and for the overall security of Eastern Europe — and that is all of Eastern Europe — and also for Europe.”
Trump has previously proposed pulling the United States out of NATO, which would destroy the alliance, and he has demanded that allies increase their defense spending to lighten the burden on Washington. If they don’t, Trump warned, the US would fail to meet its treaty obligations and “would encourage them” — meaning Russia — “to do whatever they want.”
Pete Alibali, 53, emigrated from Soviet-occupied Poland at age 16 because his mother, a chemist, wanted to pursue a career without joining the Communist Party.
Alibali, a lifelong Democrat who now lives in Madison, Wisconsin, sees Putin as a “predator and a continuation of the Soviets.” In addition to his concerns about his native Poland, he worries that small Baltic states could also be threatened if Ukraine is defeated.
Alibali acknowledged that many Polish Americans are conservative, having grown up reading Polish newspapers, working in Polish businesses, listening to Polish radio and attending their local Catholic church. He described his uncle, who lives in Chicago, as a “very avid Trump supporter.”
“Trump has divided my family,” Alibali said.
Polish American voters have swung between Democrats and Republicans in presidential elections in recent years, backing Trump in 2016 but backing President Joe Biden in 2020.
Malinowski said Trump’s visit to the shrine “shows that he’s worried about losing ground with a group of voters he may take for granted.” He also downplayed any suggestion of a friendship between Trump and Duda, a right-wing politician who once suggested renaming a military base in his country Fort Trump.
“I know the Poles are nervous,” he said. “The advice they are getting is: Cultivate Trump for safety. They are doing it with their fingers crossed.”
Tom Kolano, a 55-year-old Republican from a Pittsburgh suburb whose ancestors were Polish immigrants, says he is encouraged by Trump’s relationship with Duda.
“I’m not worried about President Trump abandoning Ukraine,” Kolano said. “Here’s one big reason: I think Poland will have a lot to say about that.”
He pointed out that Duda and his political rival, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, have a visit to Washington in March to push a divided Congress to break the impasse over replenishing funds for Ukraine at a critical moment in the war.
John Laka, 66, of Appleton, Wisconsin, is confident that Trump will be stronger overall on foreign policy than Harris.
“I just don’t have a lot of confidence in her as a leader or as a president,” he said. “She just really falls short.”
Laka’s parents emigrated to the United States from Poland, and he is unsure to what extent the country is really in danger from Russia.
“The threat of Putin going further will always be there unless there is deterrence. At the moment we have not been able to deter people,” he said.
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Megerian reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan, Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, and Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.